Lost and Found

She grasped his hand in the dark. "Do you love me?" she whispered.

"Of course I do."

"More than anything?"

"Yes." They kissed.

"Do you promise to always stay with me?"

"I swear it."

Im-Slatner squinted at Lars as the incense-traced image and echoes out of time faded. The Minion's face, goggle-eyed, shimmered with moisture in the seance chamber's cloying heat. He knelt between two candles, the only sources of illumination in the room now that the incense sticks had burned away to ash. "You realize what it is that you ask," he said, enunciating the sentence with care.

"I swore to her, by her. I will not taint what we shared by breaking that vow." Lars loomed over the froglike Minion and tightened one hand into a fist. "I will do it."

Im-Slatner ponderously regained his feet, his taupe robes falling into smooth sheets of fabric around his hunched body. The Minion looked askance at the man and nodded. He reached into a pocket and pulled out a small pouch which clattered softly as he kneaded it. "Promises made, promises kept, honor before all else, mmm." Im-Slatner looked up at the man. "Were I as you are, Corsair, it would not be me to whom you speak at this moment or place. But that is why you have come, is it not? I am one who will do that which you will not permit of yourself."

"I have given you what you asked. Do as I request." Lars dreaded the Bonedaddy's request at first, but it was not murder the Minion sought, merely a satchel of fellweed.

"As you wish." Im-Slatner clasped his hands within his robe's voluminous sleeves. "A third time I say: is this what you wish to be? It shall not be as things once were."

"My ardor remains. The time which has passed is of no issue. Do it, Minion."

Im-Slatner upended the bag in his hand, spilling yellowed bones, fingers and toes and teeth and claws, onto the floor between the two candles. Rattling filled the room as the bones shuddered to a halt. Im-Slatner made a pensive sound as he regarded them.

The taint of Cs'e'erahn magics pushed against Lars's senses, overwhelming his mind with morbid sensations. "What do they say?" he asked, impatient and disgusted.

"Silence, Corsair. I commune with the Dread Sister." Im-Slatner's voice now had a lilting, singsong quality to it, a vibrancy that contrasted with the oppressive atmosphere. The volume of the Minion's voice dropped and his speech's cadence grew measured. Lars knew enough about the workings of magic that the Bonedaddy had begun his enchantment.

The two were alone in the room at one moment, and in the next a third person stood above the bones scattered between them. She opened her eyes and regarded Lars, whose knees buckled.

"Esther," he gasped in a thick voice.

The woman, pale and naked and beautiful, turned from the Corsair to face Im-Slatner. "You keep me, parter of the shroud?"

The Minion shook his head side to side. "This man is the reason for your return. I am merely the tool."

She immediately disregarded Im-Slatner. "Then I shall do as you bid," she said to Lars.

Lars extended a trembling hand and brushed the woman's calf, expecting the flesh beneath to be sodden and pallid. Instead it was warm, firm, healthy. "Let us leave this place. Let us resume our life together." He stood and swept his Corsair's cloak from his shoulders to cover Esther's naked body. He cleared his throat. "I do not give oaths lightly, Bonedaddy, but you have my gratitude. If ever you require one to defend you, or to speak on your behalf if you should ever turn to Cahllyn, I will do so."

The Minion waved a hand in dismissal. "The Lucid Brother offers nothing my patroness cannot. But your strong arm, yes, I may well find a use for. I accept your oath and gladly."

Lars nodded and, holding Esther tight against his body, left.

Im-Slatner cleaned the floor, picking up each bone and carefully wiping off any dust or ash before replacing it in his bag. He had just finished and retired to his adjacent bedchamber when he heard the door open. "I am not providing services at this time," he said without looking. "You may instead try--"

The Minion's teeth clacked together once he attuned to his visitor's aura. "I will be right with you." The Bonedaddy took a moment to rearrange his robes before striding out to meet his guest.